


Dibs: The Game of Games

by missdibley



Series: The Cohort [7]
Category: Tom Hiddleston - Fandom
Genre: Academia, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Smut, University, intercourse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-12
Updated: 2015-11-12
Packaged: 2018-05-01 06:04:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5194943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missdibley/pseuds/missdibley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Graduate student Tom is relieved that his friend and fellow student Dot has finally come to understand what he knew almost from the moment he saw her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dibs: The Game of Games

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, the name of this fic took its inspiration from one of my favorite episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, [Chardee MacDennis: The Game of Games"](http://itsalwayssunny.wikia.com/wiki/Chardee_MacDennis:_The_Game_of_Games)

> _“I tell people, if someone spends all that time digging their car out, do not drive in that spot. This is Chicago. Fair warning.”_  
>  Richard M. Daley, Mayor of Chicago, 1989 - 2011 (via [The Straight Dope](http://chicago.straightdope.com/sdc20110203.php))

It was another rainy evening in Hyde Park, where the ground was so wet leaves stuck to the pavement or swirled in storm drains before disappearing into the sewers. Dot Schmidt dressed for the weather in rather heavy rainboots and an old trench coat that didn’t keep her dry so much as it made her look like a detective. The power was out at the Walker Museum, so she wasn’t able to use her keycard to get into the building, and therefore into her office. The lights were on at the library, however, and Dot still had work to do so off she went.

She pushed through the revolving doors into the library atrium, skidding just a little bit on the limestone floor. Dot righted herself and as she did, she caught sight of Tom swiping himself through the turnstile. She smiled as she watched him lope along in the direction of the stairs to the stacks. Dot was about to call out to him until she saw Dale Harris approaching him.

The buxom redhead from Tom’s office hours buttonholed him by the door, talking animatedly as she showed him a sheaf of papers. Dot couldn’t tell if his smile was genuinely warm or if he was merely indulging his student.

“That’s a nice boyfriend you got there.”

Dot smiled as she recognized the warm voice in her ear. She turned to hug her mentor, Professor Lauren Kiehl.

“Hey Lauren.”

Professor Kiehl nodded in Tom’s direction, her curls bobbing as she did. “You gonna go over and say hello?”

“He’s with one of his students. I don’t want to interrupt.”

“Of course not.” Lauren looked at Dot, who had returned her gaze to Tom and Dale. “That’s an improvement.”

“What’s an improvement?”

“When I said he was your boyfriend, you didn’t immediately deny it.”

Dot smiled to herself, but said nothing.

“I can’t say that I know him very well, but I feel like I’ve seen him around campus more. Talking to people. Smiling.” Professor Kiehl squeezed Dot’s arm. “I think that’s your doing.”

Dot nodded. “It wasn’t hard, showing him the ropes. Introducing him to people outside of his department. He’s really nice. People don’t just like him, they’re getting to know him.”

“Of course.”

“And he likes them.”

“Alright.” Professor Kiehl said reassuringly.

“I like him,” Dot confessed.

“Does he know that?”

Dot looked at Professor Kiehl in astonishment. “Of course he does!”

“Good. But Dot…” The older woman leaned in. “If you feel something else, something more, that’s alright.”

“I know.”

Professor Kiehl looked at her with concern. “Dot, why are you so hesitant? This doesn’t seem like you.”

“I know. It’s just…” Dot shook her head. “It’s stupid.”

“What’s stupid?”

“Liking him the way I do. And him liking me back. That it should be so easy.”

“Why shouldn’t it be easy?”

Dot looked incredulous. “Shouldn’t I have worked harder for this? For him?”

Professor Kiehl chuckled. “Dot, Tom is not a reward. You don’t get to have a boyfriend because you were the best behaved, or the most hard-working. He feels something for you. If you feel the same, you should be honest with yourself, and with him.”

“You know, if this whole professor thing doesn’t work out, you could always write an advice column.”

“Right?!” Professor Kiehl laughed, then nudged her towards Tom. “Look. He’s going. You gonna go after him, or am I going to have to shut the two of you up in one of the study rooms?”

“Well,” Dot grinned. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”

“Go!” Professor Kiehl gave her a wink, then left Dot to her fate.

* * *

Down in the stacks, Tom decided he could check his email (and search the web for information about Thanksgiving traditions) before he began work in earnest. After connecting to the library wi-fi from his laptop, the instant messaging app popped up immediately. It was his sister Sarah.

> **TOM**
> 
> _what are you doing up so early? isn’t it 6:00am there?_
> 
> **too hot to sleep**
> 
> _sorry about that_
> 
> **it’s fine - gives me some time before my day starts to interrogate you**
> 
> _let me guess - you want to talk to me about my schoolwork, right?_
> 
> **hahaha NO**
> 
> _get on with it then_
> 
> **whats her name**
> 
> _dorothy_
> 
> **there’s no dorothy in your department**
> 
> _how do you know_
> 
> **already checked the classics web page**
> 
> _ah_
> 
> **and only 12 dorothys came up in online directory - half are admin or staff. remaining 3 appear to be inactive or withdrawn**
> 
> _who are the lucky 3_
> 
> **dorothy barry, 3rd year in the college - according to her student page she’s currently doing a year abroad in China**
> 
> _also would i date a 20 year old?_
> 
> **you’re barely 25 yourself**
> 
> _just get on with it_
> 
> **dorothy d. n. j. schmidt, cinema studies & dorothy rowell, theology. its rowell clearly**
> 
> _explain_
> 
> **she looks like your type - pretty, nice, good schools**
> 
> _what about the other one_
> 
> **she’s studying “feminist erotic film and literature” which is just pornography no matter how much she pretties the language. and then there’s your thing**
> 
> _what thing is that_
> 
> **schmidt looks like a handful. you don’t like a challenge.**
> 
> _what is that supposed to mean_
> 
> **you like girls who are so laidback they’re practically comatose**
> 
> _not true_
> 
> **yes - also rowell kind of looks like you**
> 
> _hold on, searching for her photo - she does not_
> 
> **she has your old bunny teeth**
> 
> _HEY_
> 
> **your smile is a miracle of modern dentistry**
> 
> _at least i still have my old nose_
> 
> **we weren’t all lucky enough to get mum’s nose, arsehole**
> 
> _true enough_
> 
> **you could have done worse than this rowell girl**
> 
> _but i didn’t_
> 
> **what?**
> 
> _what?_
> 
> **does that mean it’s not rowell**
> 
> _well_
> 
> **you’re seeing porn dorothy?**
> 
> _she prefers dot_
> 
> **are you mad that i called her porn dorothy**
> 
> _no_
> 
> **sorry it’s just… she’s not your usual type**
> 
> _as you’ve established my previous types were “comatose” this would be an improvement_
> 
> **i should think so**
> 
> _she’s the opposite of comatose_
> 
> **oh?**
> 
> _it’s like, i feel rather different, awake, when i’m with her. i feel good_
> 
> **is that right?**
> 
> _that’s how it feels_
> 
> **so you’re in love then**
> 
> _who says?_
> 
> **you just did… good night**

“We have a problem.”

Tom jumped in his seat, as he was startled by Dot, who now stood at the end of the aisle. Still in her coat, her wet hair was limp around her face. He got up and kissed her on the forehead, noting that she seemed to be out of breath.

“Hello, Dorothy. How are you, Dorothy.” He wrapped his arms around her. “How’s the weather.”

Dot frowned at him. “My parents know about you already.”

Tom arched an eyebrow at her. “Well, that’s probably a good thing, seeing as how I’ve accepted your invitation to spend Thanksgiving with them.”

“It wasn’t me who told them. Harry beat me to it.”

“You told Harry about me?” Tom grinned. “What did you tell him?”

“I didn’t tell Harry anything! He had a hunch when he heard me on the phone at your place, and just went with it.”

“Harry had a hunch you were bringing someone to Thanksgiving dinner?”

“No.” Dot pushed out her bottom lip. “His hunch was that I have a boyfriend.”

“Ah. I see.” Tom nodded. “So do you?”

Dot looked up at him. “Don’t make me say it.”

“Make you say what?” Tom smiled at her tenderly.

“That…” Dot blushed, which touched him. “That I have a, you know. A boyfriend.”

“Oh?” Tom cupped her cheek in his hand. “Who’s the lucky fellow?”

“That’s not fu—”

Before Dot could finish, Tom cut her off with a kiss. When he broke it, she looked relieved.

“Thank you.” Tom kissed her again. “What changed your mind?”

“It was that night I made you, I made us, dinner.” Dot smiled when Tom took her hand and led her to the chair by the desk, waiting for him to sit before she sat on his lap.

“Did you put something in the sauce?”

“No!” Dot laughed. “It was after you went to bed. Harry texted me. That’s when he told me he knew I had a boyfriend. And that he was telling Mama.”

“Was that all?”

Dot shook her head. “I turned over to look at you while you slept. And I realized that, at that moment, I felt really good. I always do. When I’m with you.”

“I feel the same.”

“Oh.” Dot looked pleased.

“I wrote my sister about you. Well, just one of them. But not my mother.”

“Why not?” She touched his face.

“Mum is very protective of me. She wants me to find a nice girl, but her definition of a nice girl is considerably narrower than mine.”

Dot smirked. “Are you saying that I’m not a nice girl?”

“Well,” Tom said slyly. “I know for a fact that you can be a bad girl.” He chuckled when Dot lightly smacked his bottom. “I think you’d scare her. You’re too smart, too funny. You have ideas and opinions, and you’re always ready to talk about them, or about anything. Very different from the girls I’ve dated in the past, as my sister pointed out.”

“What were they like?”

“Inoffensive. Nice enough but that pretty much all you could say about them.”

“Did you love any of them?” Dot blushed. “I’m sorry, is that too nosy?”

Tom shook his head. “I thought I did, for a couple of them. The ones that seemed to please both of my parents, who never seem to agree on much of anything. I thought making them happy made me happy.”

“What about your sister?”

He sighed. “I’m sorry to report that she called you ‘porn dorothy’ when she found your CV.”

Dot chuckled. “I’m used to that. If that’s the worst she can do…”

“She also said you looked like a handful.”

“Well, she isn’t wrong exactly.”

Tom kissed her again. “There was something else.”

“What was it?”

“Not here. Come on, let’s get something to eat.”

Dot nodded, joining Tom at his desk while he packed up his things. “Fine with me. I was just going to watch a movie anyway.”

“More dissertation research?” Tom put on his backpack then took Dot’s hand in his.

“Not quite.” Dot averted her gaze.

“What was it then?” Tom smiled. “You can tell me.”

Dot looked him in the eye. _“When Harry Met Sally…”_

“I thought you didn’t like romantic comedies.”

“I don’t, but the beginning of that movie was shot here. And I like movies that are shot in Chicago.” Dot waited for Tom to open the door to the stairwell, walking through it ahead of him.

“And I’m sure there’s nothing to be drawn from a movie about a pair of people who insist they are merely friends while they slowly fall in love with each other?”

Dot didn’t answer at first, letting his words echo as they walked upstairs. “Nothing at all.”

Tom simply grinned to himself.

* * *

They walked quickly through the rain to the Med, where they warmed up with hot cocoa and “Fidel’s Chicken Soup”. Sitting opposite each other in a booth, Dot’s feet propped up at Tom’s side. She wiggled her toes every so often.

“So what was it? The something else.” Dot took Tom’s hand.

“It was something Sarah said.” Tom looked down at their hands and smiled.

“What did she say?”

When Tom looked up, he looked serious but his eyes were bright and his cheeks rosy. “She said I was in love.”

Dot didn’t say anything. She merely closed her eyes.

“Dot?”

Without opening her eyes, she replied. “Did you think that by coming here, telling me this in public, that I wouldn’t make a scene?”

“No, it’s just… I thought we needed to warm up. And you told me you liked the chicken soup. We had breakfast here that one time and that was when I knew. You were just sitting there drinking your coffee and reading ‘The Bridges of Madison County’ and I had a breakfast burrito and I thought this was the best breakfast I’d ever had in my life. I didn’t fight it but I wasn’t sure but then I told Sarah how good I felt when I was with you, how awake, and she said it was love and she’s always right about these things. I’ve never felt like this and now I feel like it all the time so if this isn’t love then what else could it possibly be?”

Tom bit his lip. He didn’t mean for his words to come out like that.

Dot opened her eyes and frowned at him. When she got up, Tom popped up and ran his hand through his hair nervously.

“If you thought I wasn’t going to make a scene,” Dot shook her head. “Then you were wrong. You were so wrong.”

Before Tom could protest, Dot reached up, clasped him around the neck, and kissed him. She kissed him hard and deeply, laughing when their lips parted to each other’s. She stood up on her toes to kiss him, and this was no small feat as he was eight inches taller than her. They couldn’t hear people chuckling or grousing as they tried to walk around the pair. And even if they could, they wouldn’t have cared.

Sliding his arms around her, Tom pulled Dot in closer so she could bury his face in his chest.

“So is that it?” He smiled. “I love you, and you’re not going to tell me immediately that I don’t?”

“No.” Dot shook her head. “I’m kind of speechless at the moment.”

“I’ll put out a press release.”

“Jerk.” She looked up at him. “Let’s go home.”

Tom nodded. “Yeah. Okay.”

* * *

> _It never occurred to me that he might have the same odd taste, or his own odd taste. Outside, the rain spun on intensely. My husband said, “I came over here to claim you, if that’s possible.”_
> 
> _When I looked at him, I realized that I had never wanted anyone so much in my life, so I claimed him, too.  
>  _ (Laurie Colwin, “Travel”)

The walk back to Tom’s flat was brief, but they took it slowly. Not talking, they simply smiled to themselves as they held hands. The rain had stopped, but fat drops of water still dripped from the trees that lined the sidewalks.

Once home, Tom hung up their coats while she got clean towels to dry their hair. Dot pulled him into his bedroom and closed the door behind them. She undressed Tom first, carefully tugging off his clothes, then stood before him and waited for him to do the same.

“We’re allowed to smile, you know.” Tom smiled up at her as he unrolled her tights and let them puddle on the floor. She was still wearing her bra and knickers, her dress draped over a nearby chair. He kissed her navel, then slowly removed her underwear.

“I know. But.” Dot pushed a few stray curls off his forehead. “It’s the first time. After we, you know…”

“Well, I did.” Tom looked a little mischievous. “You didn’t. Not yet.”

“Oh. Should I?” Dot looked apologetic.

“If you like.” Tom kissed her palm when she touched his lips.

“Tom, I lo—”

Tom cut her off again, kissing her as he pulled her into bed. Dot laughed when she fell on top of them, then rolled onto the mattress. Lying on her back, she pulled him in for another kiss as he reached for his nightstand to get a condom out of the drawer.

Dot broke the kiss to shake her head. “No.”

Tom tried not to look too disappointed. “Oh, you don’t want to?”

“No, I do.” She kissed him on the cheek. “Just… can we do it without it? The condom, I mean. Unless you…”

Tom kissed her. “I had to get a physical before the quarter started, and I’m fine. And before you and I… nobody. Not since last year.”

“WHAT.” Dot’s mouth dropped open.

“What is that supposed to mean?” He pouted.

“How is that even possible?”

Tom shrugged. “It happens, Dorothy. Dry spells happen.”

“But have you seen yourself? You are, like, aggressively hot, Tom.”

“Is that why you love me? Because I’m hot?” He smirked.

Dot rolled her eyes. “Sure. That, and you always pay when we go to the Med!”

“Brat!”

Dot squealed when he began to tickle her. “Sorry, dude, but it’s the truth! I’m a gold digger! Once I’ve gotten my fill of chicken soup and breakfast burritos, I’m out of here!” She continued laughing, even when Tom began to kiss her in earnest. Peals of laughter softened into quiet giggles as she wrapped her arms around him at the neck. When he rolled his hips, Dot sighed and parted her legs.

“Whatever are you… oof!” Her eyes opened in delighted surprise when she felt his hand between her legs. When his fingers began to stroke her folds, his thumb pressing down gently on her clit, she moaned. “Oh my…”

“Get used to my hands, Dorothy.” Tom kissed her ear. “I’m not giving you my cock. Not yet.”

“Was it because of that crack about the Med?” When he nodded, Dot clucked her tongue. “You’re so petty.”

“Too bad you already love me.”

“Yeah. Too bad is ri.. iiiiiight!” Dot arched off the bed when his thumb began to circle that bundle of nerves. “Oh fuck!”

“Not yet, Dorothy.”

The weight of Tom’s body shifted, so he lay on his side. One hand still pleasuring her, he used the other to hook her leg over his hips. Dot rolled her hips and he groaned when his cock brushed against her.

“Jesus, Dot, I’m not sure I can last…” He kissed her hard, sucking on her tongue. “You feel so good.”

“Well, don’t let me stop you from… oh dear, just like that, right on my clit… denying yourself… oh fuck!... yes… yes…” Dot’s eyes fluttered shut when Tom nodded forward and swiped at a nipple with his tongue, then licked it slowly before sucking it between his lips. Her skin was hot and she felt helpless, at the mercy of his supple tongue and his clever fingers, two of which were now pumping inside her while this thumb was still slowly, torturously, circling her clit.

Tom was so hard it was almost painful but he wanted to make this last. She was too delicious and too wet, too warm and welcoming. As much as he wanted to sink into her, to fill Dot, to fuck her…

All that went out the window when Dot pulled him back on top of her. She moved her hands to either side of his neck, resting her thumbs on the column of his throat as she kissed him slowly. First nibbling at the corner of his lips, she bit on his delicate bottom lip then slipped her tongue into his mouth when he gasped. Tom became aware of how soft her hands felt when they brushed his jaw.

“Clench,” she whispered, and he obeyed, setting his jaw with a look of determination. Her mouth was a perfect O as she inhaled quickly in response to him. Her sex tightened around his fingers which still moved in and out, now faster.

Tom shifted, his cock moving up and resting on her mound. Dot whimpered, then placed her hand on his as he took himself in hand and positioned his cock at her entrance. When she felt him slowly enter her, Dot released him and moved her hands up to his shoulders. When she looked in his eyes, they were dark, and Dot felt as though he could see right into her.

Tom hadn’t had sex without a condom in a while. The last girl he’d slept with insisted on it the few times they did end up in bed, and he was happy to comply. Girls who weren’t just careful when it came to protecting themselves and him, but cautious, even tentative when it came to love making. He’d propose something, like having them on top, or permitting him to go down on them. They were all so polite in their refusal, he wondered if perhaps he wasn’t good in bed, despite their statements to the contrary. Or maybe he wanted it too much. Not the sex so much as the connection.

Dot writhed beneath him, and he could believe that every moan, every kiss, every response she made to his overtures were real. She had been bold enough to ask him to come on her breasts, the delicate hollow of her throat, the first time they were together. She was happy to let Tom take the lead in subsequent assignations. And he did, beautifully. He had nothing but respect for the way she handled herself. He felt as though he had her trust, his refusal to judge her by her assertiveness that first time. That, coupled by the fact that he wanted her from the moment he saw her, made him feel like he could do anything.

Completely seated within her, Tom took a deep breath and kissed Dot. He lay himself down on her so his thrusts, while shallow, were slow and sensuous. He could feel every part of her and she in turn could not get enough of him. Dot dug her nails into Tom’s back, her soft belly sticky with his sweat, and yielded. Every part of him was insistent, and he was so hard and so intent on her, so focused on just being there to kiss her, to look at her, to wrap her in his arms and to fuck her. Who was she to deny him this?

Dot broke the kiss, her sounds of pleasure muffled as she pressed her lips to the side of his neck. Tom shut his eyes for a moment, then looked at her face. Their eyes met again, and his senses were overwhelmed. The heat in her gaze, the smell of her hair, the feeling of her skin on his and her cunt so hot and wet around him. He had told her once that she tasted like sin. But this was not to say that she did not taste good. More like, nothing that could be good for him could taste so sweet like she did. But she was good for him, to him. Dot liked him, welcomed him, loved him. She tasted like home.

“Please.” She whispered in his ear, and Tom slid his arms to the side, boosting himself up a little so he could buck his hips. She responded in kind, tightening around him so that every retreat from her was a beautiful agony that he gladly repeated. He thought he saw white flashes, felt a familiar tightening in his lower back, and then there she was too, circling her clit with her own hand while crying out to him.

“Tom!” She blinked as she grabbed him, both arms sliding around him, and he thrust once, then again, before he felt himself come. He didn’t immediately collapse, waiting for Dot to dig her nails into his back again before he stopped and eased himself beside her. He pressed his face into the crook of her neck and kissed her throat, then rested a large, warm hand on her hip.

“Tom?”

“Yes?”

“You know you cut me off before.” Tom felt her smile, then chuckled.

“I did, didn’t I?” When she nodded, he picked up her left hand and pressed it to his lips. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Dot looked down at him. “Tom.”

He looked up at her. “Dot.”

“Tom. I love you.”

Tom kissed the tip of her nose. “I love you, too.”

Dot kissed his cheek. “Good.”

Their eyes fluttered shut and in no time at all they fell asleep to the sound of the rain returning.


End file.
